“We’ll always have Portsmouth.”

By now, you’re probably getting bored of my “I’ve almost finished uni” spiel. The thing is it’s coming up so fast and I’m losing my head a little bit. I’m really sad. I’m not sad because of leaving the university itself but because I have met some of the world’s best people here and I’m definitely not ready to say goodbye.

Yesterday, quite a few of those people (or, as I shall lovingly call them, ‘my boys‘) finished uni for good. They handed in their final two assessments and we spent the day in the pub, which led to a night out at Pompey’s most notorious club: Astoria. It was fab. I had an amazing time with my favourite people but, as they celebrated, a wave of sadness poured over me. I couldn’t believe it. It was finally real. We’re done (almost) and we’re leaving.

None of my uni friends live that far away from me in the grand scheme of things; the furthest live in Wiltshire which is, technically, the other side of the country but it’s not an impossible trip (England is tiny). I say this but I have no idea where I’ll be living soon. I don’t know where I’ll be working and, who knows? Maybe a job will take me to Oxford or Worcester or another random place across England.

One of my closest friends, who I will miss an awful lot (though don’t tell him that), told me yesterday how happy he is that we live fairly close to each other (as close as opposite sides of London can be) because we can still see each other regularly. We both want to end up in London itself so fingers crossed.

It’s baffling that, after almost three years in Portsmouth, I only now feel somewhat at home here. That’s because of ‘my boys‘ and a few rather perfect gals. I’m not ready to say goodbye. There is a very real possibility that the next time I see these guys, it could be one of their weddings.When did we get this old? When did we grow up? Why didn’t we have more time?

If anything makes me sad, though, it’s the fact that it took me a year and a half to pluck up the courage to talk to ‘my boys‘ because they have become some of the best friends I have ever had. For that, I am truly grateful and unbelievably blessed.